Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Our first priority is placing goat kids into loving situations. In 2011, we quickly sold all eight of our available kids (mostly wethers) to pet homes. They were bottle-fed and very literally jumping into visitor's arms. It was a rewarding experience for me and I continue to assist our customers with knowledge gained from experience, which grows every season here at Capsand Creamery. We began a verbal reservation list at about this time last year, which is solely intended to make kid placements occur more smoothly and free up time for me in the spring when we are busier.

We've seen some big changes on the farm, recently. Midsummer, we were very fortunate to purchase a new buck named Dragonfly IH Bandito Burrito *S (thank you Niko H.). He originated from Joanne Karohl's farm in Massachusetts through breeding ARMCH Twin Creeks MB Stellaluna *D 'E with PromisedLand Incredible Hunk *S. These wonderful animals haven proven themselves in the show ring and pass on genetics for great milk capacity. We've bred all of our does to Bandito this fall and intend to keep a few select doelings out of him just to see what they are capable of next year.

Our first fresheners turned out to be very productive milkers, owing in part to having ARMCH Rosasharn's Uni 3*D E as a granddam. We couldn't ask for more from our girls. Except when you begin making hard cheeses and selling milk shares, there's never enough milk. So we also added a mature and minature horse-sized purebred American Oberhasli named Wynona. Despite her incredible size she is very gentle and cooperative. She will give us registerable mini-Oberhasli F1 generation kids in March, which ideally should be an intermediate size while giving twice as much milk as a Nigerian Dwarf and hopefully retaining the high butterfat and protein levels that they are renowned for. This is a new venture in exploring a breeding program that favors feed efficiency and milk production in a gentle smaller sized animal.

Finally, the biggest change has been a MOVE into our neighbor's solar-powered post-and-beam horse barn. For our use, we now have three large stalls, two beautiful pastures, copious woodlands, and an insulated milk room with hot water, a milking machine, and a refrigerator. More importantly, we have our dear friend, milk customer and compatriot in goat-loving right next door. It's been a big year!

So if you would like to visit the farm and see what kids will be available in March, we are taking verbal reservations in the order they are received for the breedings posted here.

Please email us at capsandcreamery@gmail.com to ask questions or add your name to the list.

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Mt Mansfield from our Island home

About Me

Our backyard Vermont farm was my early retirement from research science. Now it is a passion to live simply, while providing income to sustain our family. Learning as we go, using knowledge borrowed from the internet and books, our family of five is attempting to practice skills lost from my great-grandparent's generation. Thanks for tuning in.